On November 12, 1954 the Brooklyn Eagle reported on the Veterans Day rites on November 11th at Ebbets Field:
“There were 6,000 new citizens in Brooklyn today — men and women from all the far places of the earth, from behind iron curtain and silken and bamboo curtains where Communist and/or Fascist tyrannies had kept them afraid.
“You could almost pick them out, the 6,000, on the streets of Brooklyn. They walked with a new, self-confident air, with something of a new,
President Woodrow Wilson is seen here (in glasses) on a visit to Brooklyn in 1914. It was Wilson who first commemorated the date Nov. 11 when he declared it Armistice Day in 1919, in honor of the cessation of hostilities that occurred on that day a year earlier, ending World War I. In 1926, Congress made it a legal holiday.
In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower changed the holiday’s name to Veterans Day, stating, “In order to insure proper
The torpedo boat Alarm was launched at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on Nov. 13, 1873. She is seen here in Dry Dock No. 1 in an 1883 photo. On torpedo boats the charge was usually mounted at the end of the spar on the bow, set to discharge when the crew rammed a targeted vessel. So many sailors were killed on such craft, self-propelled torpedoes {read more...}
Vincent Frank (Vinny) Testaverde was born in Brooklyn on Nov. 13, 1963. His father was a construction worker who was affectionately called “Big Al” by his fellow workers. He made sure that his son would become a star quarterback when he placed an NFL football in Vinnie’s bassinet. Vinny credits his family for his success. His father spent untold hours playing football with the future All-American.
After completing high school in Long Island, Vinny enrolled at a military school in Virginia before he attended the University of Miami. At Miami, he and Bernie Kozar backed up quarterback Jim Kelly. When Kelly graduated, Vinny sat on the bench while Bernie Kozar started.
By John B. Manbeck
a Brooklyn historian
Special to the Brooklyn Eagle
“Buying” the Brooklyn Bridge has been a joke since 1883. According to David McCullough, author of The Great Bridge, the story circulated when Brooklyn con men tried to cheat näive rubes from the farms after the bridge opened. From the streets, the apocryphal line graduated to
No matter how hard the English tried when they took over New Amsterdam in the 17th century, they could not establish the name of “Brookland” for Brooklyn. Whatever they did, people continued to call it Breukelen, which eventually evolved into Brooklyn.
Soon after Norman Mailer died on Nov. 10, 2007 of acute renal failure at the age of 84, reports and assessments of his career poured in from all corners of the globe — all declaring his monumental stature in American literature and many making a point to emphasize the robustness of his well-documented ego.
On November 10, 1981 Clinton Hill was designated an historic district. A better description of this area of Brooklyn could not possibly be found than the one that follows from This is Brooklyn: A Guide to the Borough’s Historic Districts and Landmarks, by Andrew S. Dolkart:
“Clinton Hill, one of the most beautiful and varied neighborhoods in Brooklyn, is unique in the history of its architecture and development. Unlike most Brooklyn historic districts, which developed relatively rapidly and have remained virtually {read more...}
If you were on a NYC Transit subway during the rush hour on Nov. 9, 1965, you were among about 800,000 other unlucky riders trapped underground due to a blackout that plunged 80,000 square miles of the U.S. into total darkness. Those on elevators in the city fared no better. New York City was without power for over 13 hours.
A massive electric power failure starting in western New York state at 5:16 p.m., Nov. 9, 1965, reached New York
Carl Sagan was born in Brooklyn on Nov. 9, 1934, the son of a Ukrainian immigrant garment worker and Austro-Hungarian mother. He discovered astronomy early in life through visits to the library. By the age of 26, he had a doctor of philosophy degree in astrophysics from the University of Chicago.
Stanford White was the architect who designed the old original Madison Square Garden, the Washington Square Arch, the Players Century and Metropolitan Clubs, and many private mansions in Manhattan. He was born there on Nov. 9, 1853. In 1901, he {read more...}
During the evening of Nov. 9 and into the next morning in 1938, mobs in Germany destroyed thousands of shops and homes carrying out a pogrom against Jews. Synagogues were burned down or demolished. There were bonfires in every Jewish {read more...}
Lou Ferrigno was born in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn on Nov. 9, 1951, the son of a NYC police lieutenant. He attended St. Athanasius Grammar School and Brooklyn Technical High School.
In spite of hearing problems, he became a {read more...}
New York City’s Ridgewood neighborhood straddles both northern Brooklyn and southwestern Queens. One of New York’s best-known fight clubs, Ridgewood Grove, was built one block just over the borderline that separated the two boroughs. It was actually in Queens but newspapers and sportscasters invariably placed it in Brooklyn. And of course Brooklyn liked it that way. The club was built in 1926, seating almost 4,000. Its actual name was the “New” Ridgewood Grove, because it replaced a well-known picnic grove {read more...}
On November 5, 1968, Shirley Chisholm was the first black woman elected to the U.S. House of Representa-tives. She was born on Nov. 24, 1924 to Quaker parents. At the age of two she moved with her family from Brooklyn to Barbados, her mother’s native country. She remained there until the age of 10; her father was from Guyana.
She received her BA from Brooklyn College and an MA from Columbia University. In 1964 she was
